Swinging blade razor



Aug. 29, 1950 SWINGING BLADE RAZOR Filed Feb. 28, 1946 Patented Aug. 29, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SWINGING BLADE RAZOR Ralph G. Arey, Swampscott, Mass.

Appiication February 28, 1946, Serial N 0. 650,849

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to shavers of the type in which a cutting edge is disposed within a shell that is perforated to admit hairs to the cutting edge, and that, for example, rolls on the skin as the shaver is passed over the face.

Customarily the internal cutting edge bears on the inner surface of the shell so that the cutting of the hair may be substantially a shearing action so far as reasonably possible. Usually too the shell is mounted loosely so that it can move away from the cutting edge as the shaver is lifted from the skin; this releases partly cut hairs from the grasp of the shell and cutting edge and thus tends to avoid pulling partly cut hairs at such times. Usually also the blade or internal cutting implement is provided with two oppositely facing cutting edges so that both forward and back strokes of the shaver may be cutting strokes. The shell oscillates as it is stroked back and forth on the face of course.

According to the practice heretofore, the blade of the shaver is fixed in position, e. g. is fixed with respect to the handle by which the shaver is pressed to the skin. In the case of doubleedged blades, the two cutting edges are d'sposed permanently at opposite sides of the center plane of the shaver, and each is placed a distance from that plane equal to one-half the width of the blade. Necessarily also by these practices both edges are pressed to the shell at all times during the shaving operation. The center plane referred to is that plane of the shaver which contains the axis of rotation (or oscillation) of the shell and extends lengthwise of the abutments that support the shell from the handle of the shaver. Examples of such shavers are shown in my prior U. S. Patents No. 2,331,646 and No. 2,354,657.

For the best results however, I believe that any cutting edge in action at an moment should be pressed directly toward the face as it were. That is to say, at every moment a cutting edge in action should lie in the plane that joins the shell axis to that line on the skin whereat the skin is drawn most tightly to the cylindrical shell. Where this is not achieved, the closer the approximation to this position the better are the results. In conformance with this my present invention permits each edge of a multi-edged-blade, when in action, to be disposed at substantially any l selected shaving position. Thus for example, by this invention each cutting edge may be caused to stand in line with the center plane on a diameter of the shell and of the shaver when in action,

or be disposed say, a little in advance of th center plane and more or less approximating the posi tion where the joint action of pressing the shaver to the face and rolling the shell on the face may cause the skin to be drawn a, little more tightly than at the exact center plane.

Further, the double-edge-blade construction heretofore employed has two other eifects that may well be avoided. On occasion hairs may enter perforations in the shell after the advance or active cutting edge has passed them but before the cutting edge that is non-active or trailing at the moment has reached those perforations. These hairs are bent over subsequently by striking the face of the blade, and must pass between the inactive trailing cutting edge and the inner surface of the shell. As pointed out before however, the act of shaving not only presses the active advance cutting edge against the inner wall of the shell, but also, ordinarily, presses the trailing cutting edge against the shell as well. As a result the trailing edge and the shell tend to grasp these passing hairs and pull them. Additionally this drawing of hair between the trailing cutting edge and the shell tends to move the shell from the blade as a whole, and accordingly dis-- place the shell from contact with the forward or active cutting edge of the blade. This last tends to change the cutting action from at least partially a shearing action to entirel a cutting by the blade alone, and the cuts are not wholly as close to the skin as otherwise. My invention avoids such effects of the hair passing between the shell and the trailing or inactive cutting edge.

Primaril I accomplish the foregoing results by mounting the blade movable in such a manner that its cutting edges come alternately to active cutting positions, and the cutting edge that is trailing for the moment is held out of contact with the shell. This can be accomplished readily by mounting the blade to swing bodily on a radius appropriately less than the radius of the shell and, therefore, eccentrically on a pivot line appropriatel placed; the proper radius length and the proper placement of the pivot line for any situation will be understood from the embodiment of my invention shown in the accompanying drawings and which is described hereafter. Ordinarily no mechanism to swing the blade from one side to the other is required. Ordinarily the shell. is flexible and the distortion to which the shell is subject while changing from a, forward to a reverse stroke and vice versa, will serve to assure reversal of the position of the blade should this be necessary.

Further important features of the present invention include means to prevent dulling contact of the cutting edges of the blade when in contact with the inner surface of the rotary shell; means to mount a double-edged blade on an oscillating and swinging support, which support reinforces the blade lengthwise; means to provide for ready removal of a used blade and its support, and replacement of a new blade; and means to limit the movement of the blade and support in a nonconcentric swinging relation with the rotating shell to present each cutting edge of th blade alternately in best shaving position.

The accompanying drawings illustrate form of my invention which I now prefer. Fig. 1 is an elevation of the shaver as a whole. Fig. 2 is a perspective of a portion of the shell, its internal support and the blade member of Fig. 1, parts being broken away. Figs. 3 and l are sections showing substantially positions the parts of the shaver may assume when the shaver is moving to the right and to the left respectively. Fig. 5 is a section (1 J11 to a larger scale to illustrate preiored relation of each cutting edge to the shell.

Except for matters of the invention, the shaver the having stationary blades. Briefly a cylindrical shell i, quite thin and hence flexible, and perforated for example in accordance with present practices thrc hout substantially the whole of its length circumference, to admit hair profrom the s n, is mounted on an inner This in. nber 2 may be cylindrical except f a longitu inal slot to receive the blade corrugated at its outer surface as indicated at corrugations reduce the area of contact with the shell 5 but at the same time give adequate support over the whole of ed substantially the whole of its cirrce at the slot wherein the blade erior diameter of the shell I than the external diameter adially ie support accordingly is movfrom the blade as the shell is pressed e and moved from it; this reduces pull out hair as the shaver is lifted from as will be understood from prior practwo ends of the support are reduced r d, in use, in a handle 5 of conenient'fcrm. The form shown in the drawing one which the two opposite ends of the a its are joined by a cross bar and the frame thus forms is held in the case-like handle 1, as ill be understood from 101 ractices. ince the abutments 5 surround duced o is of the support 2, they prevent, e esc pe of the blade structure per iport lengthwise movement; line however one of the abutments ith opening .5 through -1ch the blade can be extracted longitudinally Len the barrel or support 2 is rotated, in the ebutments 13% from the position shown in the the barrel or support 2 may have a one end into which a screw driver, coin or the like can be inserted for turning the barrel to or from the blade-releasing position. Bands 8, for example of rubber, may be applied to the outer surface of the shell l to increase its tracse from t" 4 ticn as it is pushed over the face. As will be recognized the matters so far described are conventional, while preferred be modified. The brolren lines in various figures indicate the enter plane of the shaver before mentioned.

The blade 5 l is sharpened to a cutting edge [2, it at each of its two longitudinal edges. In accordance with the invention it is fixed to a support that is hinged to swing circumferentially of the shell. For example, and preferably, the blade can be on one edge of a more or less flat bar it that extends lengthwise within the perforated shell 5, tli opposite edge of which is rounded and rests within a round-bottom groove it exten lg lengthwise in the barrel or support R ative to the width of the blade ii, the bar it is of such a wid (its width is the radius of oscill tion of the blade i i of course, is less than the radius of the shell I), and the bottom of the cove it") is so placed (preferably ticer cl that the cutting E 2 can be crougLt to whatever position one desire it to occupy with respect to the center plane 9 when act at the same time the ing position; and likewise vice versa, the cutting brou to whatever position one may desire the edge to occupy witrespect to the center t active, and at the time ge E2 held well away e shell is in position .3. Additionally, stops -ents may be provided to confine the 1 swinglng movement of the s\ ging element to movement between these two limits. Preferably t e groove it is made substantially asection, as seen in Fig. 4 3 two walls and 58 so placed to form which limit the oscillating or swinging movement of the to the two g positions of the blade H. For ii it can be so made and positioned that the cutti' g edge 52 is movable to si 'iported Mlly at the center plane 9, show in r somewhat to the right of that plane; a d the cutting edge 53 is movhle to and su. Jorted substantially at the center plane 9, as shown in Fig. 4:, or somewhat to the trian ular v for example, and l as free to oscillate between these two extreme positio s.

operation of the shaver as thus described is quite like those of the general type heretofore known, except for the positioning and action of the oscillating blade ii and the consequences of asitioning and action. To shave with it, it s ed face, preferably with center "1e 3 held substantially perpendicular to the en cc of the skin. This causes the shell l to re its on its sup-port '2 as before. Wh toward the right, the cutactive, the blade ii and A positions in Fig. 3. When the is reversed and the razor stro 'ed to the left, the clade ii swings over, the cutting edge 53 becomes active the'blade and shell talre more or less the positions of Fig. 4. Hair ente perforations in. the shell in advance of whichever cutting edge, is or [3, is active th moment, is out as that cutting edge comes toit. At the same e however, hair that may have to etween cutting edge i3 and the shell in the Fig. 8 position, or between cutting vise.

edge l2 and the shell in the Fig. i position, can do so freely and without being pulled and without disturbing the position of the shell or the shaving at the respectively active cutting edge.

Fig. 5, drawn to a somewhat large scale than the other figures, illustrates particularly the relation that I prefer between the inner surface of the shell and the cutting edge that is in action at any moment. The cutting edges l2 and I3 can be assumed to be related to the shell 6 in this manner when in their respectively active positions. Briefly in this preferred arrangement the very edge, i. e., the extreme edge 25 of the sharpened portion, is so disposed (when it is in active or shaving position), that this extreme edge 25 is spaced very slightly from the adjacent inner surface of the shell I. The spacing referred to is indicated at 2B in Fig. 5. The figure is not intended to be in correct proportions however. This spacing should be a fraction, and preferably a small fraction, of the diameter, or average of the diameters, of the hairs of the face. Usually I make this spacing at 26 from about 0.00015 to about 0.00025 of an inch. An appropriate spacing can be secured by, for example, shaping the face of the blade a little back of the cutting edge, e. g. at 2?, in such a manner that it strikes the inner wall of the shell I, in shaving position while the extreme edge 25 is still the desired distance from the shell wall, as shown in Fig. 5. E. g. the part 21 can be given a convex shape, the radius of curvature of which is so much less than the radius of the curvature of the shell I, at least when the shave is pressed against the face as in shaving, that the cutting edge 25 is stopped at the desired distance from the shell.

It will be understood of course that my invention is not limited to the details of construction and operation described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, except as. appears hereafter in the claim.

I claim:

In a dry shaver of the kind described, a perforated flexible freely rotatable shell, a substantially cylindrical body Within the shell to support said shell in rotatable relation, a V-shaped groove in said body lengthwise of the cylindrical body, and with the bottom of the groove intermediate the shell and its axis of rotation, a bar carrying a double-edged blade along one edge and with the opposite edge adapted to rest in the bottom of said V-shaped groove and to oscillate therein limited by the angle of the V-shaped groove, said blade having oppositely fixed cutting edges, and alternately positioned in shaving cooperation within the interior of said shell when the bladesupporting bar is at the limit of its rocking movements fixed by the angle of said V-shaped groove.

RALPH G. AREY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,712,086 Little May 7, 1929 1,882,007 Galt Oct. 11 1932 2,321,932 Nyhagen June 15, 1943 2,331,646 Arey Oct. 12, 1943 2,354,657 Arey Aug. 1 1944 

